


Comfort In The Sound

by Eugene_Kline_Sims



Category: The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan (Video Game)
Genre: Brad needs a hug, M/M, No Beta, OMC name is Richard, Other, Roughly based on a song, Subtle victim blaming, luckily Richard is there, self projection on characters, shit parents, sole survivor Brad, sorry - Freeform, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 11:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20777717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eugene_Kline_Sims/pseuds/Eugene_Kline_Sims
Summary: Brad rediscovers a picture and it dredges up some unwanted emotions.A.K.AI have a million and one stories to do but I do this to self project onto Brad (again).





	Comfort In The Sound

**Author's Note:**

> *sigh* Sorry guys I know I have requests I have to fill but it’s been rough. Therefore I coped in the only way I knew how. Like I said this is a vent fic. So, I only went through it with Grammarly once and I don’t have premium.
> 
> Again;  
Sole Survivor Brad, Victim Blaming, and shit parents.
> 
> Also mentions of a fight between Brad and Richard but not to heavily implied.
> 
> Oh one other note. Not really important but based ever so slightly on the song (well a few lines) it’s the song Monster by Gabbie Hanna.

He, well, he hadn’t been well. He never was nowadays but he was coping. His therapist and Richard had been happy with the progress. So, of course, that’s when things decided to go off the rails.

It all happened because of a picture of Alex.

Moving boxes into his and Richard’s new, please. Brad had opened the next box and staring up at him was the grinning face of his older brother in his high school graduation robes. Brad’s heart had stopped.

He had seen the picture plenty of times but he wasn’t sure what was different this time.

Maybe because it was the date that damn boat had left the shore. Or maybe it was because of the fight he and Richard had earlier. Or the hinted phone call between his parents where they made it clear in their tones that they wished he had been the one to die and not Alex. Or the other recent death in the family. Or, whatever it was it sent him over the edge.

His hand went limp the picture frame fell out of his hand. It hit the floor and broke. The frame was cracked at the top and a spiderweb of a crack fell across Alex’s beaming face. A wounded sound leaves his mouth. His knees go out from under him and he scrambled to pick it up. The glass cuts painfully across his hand and blood smears the glass. 

Another wounded sound.

He could fix this. He could fix this. He could fix this. He….

He couldn’t fix this. 

He choked a bit. No. No. Nononono. This had been the original picture frame. The one that Alex has before he went to med school. He staggers back up. He wonders around aimlessly. 

His hand brushes against the vase and he jerks violently. He didn’t like that unexpected touch.

He turns to the offending object.

He’s not sure how it happened but one second the vase was whole and on the table. The next it was shattered in several pieces across the room.

A ragged breath leaves his lips. Blinded by grief and more than a little rage. Because of damn those pirates for taking his first (and only) friends away from him. Damn them!

He blindly reaches around the room and throws whatever he can get his hands on. Maybe he’s screaming he can’t be sure. It was hazy all he knows is the excessive use of the wounded areas and opened the wound at a larger pace. Oh, and his throat aches.

Once he had taxed his energy on shattering everything he collapses. He doesn’t have the energy left and he feels like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

He bites his lip and sobs harshly. Thousands of images fill his head. Alex’s throat being slit and blood going everywhere. Conrad being shot. Julia being stabbed and Fliss drowning. All of them gone and all blaming him for getting out alive. Soon more recent people join the mix. More predominant members being Richard and Dawn (his therapist). All of them dead and blaming him for it. 

Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!

His body is shaking and he isn’t cold but he can’t stop shaking. He clutched his arms to stop it but it only increases the shaking and nothing is stopping it. Absolutely nothing. 

Abruptly, he’s touched.

The new factor causes a mix of emotions. The two most predominant emotions are terror and comfort. He wants to lean in and at the same time, he wants to cow away. It doesn’t make any sense. A hand gently touches his and Richard’s green eyes met he’s.

“Hey, Brad. Stay with me. I was calling your name and you didn’t hear me. That went in for five minutes. So I decided to reach out and touch you. Is that okay?”

Brad doesn’t trust himself to speak. He simply nods his head and rocks. 

“Don’t be scared. It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m here okay?” Brad keeps his head buried into Richard’s shoulder. It takes Brad roughly an hour maybe two hours to calm down. Everything was so hazy though so it would be hard to tell.

Somewhat brought back to himself Brad rests his head against the wall.

  1. 7\. 8.

He repeated that breathing pattern. Eventually, he’s breathing is under control but he’s still overwhelmed with grief. He has too many problems but he simply asks the most pressing (and possibly relevant) question.

“When?” Richard quirks an eyebrow and slides down next to him.

“When what?”

“When are you going to leave me.” He pauses a moment.

“These past five years all I’ve known was the word goodbye. Just when I think I hit rock bottom something else happens and I’m free-falling again. So, I’m asking how much longer until I hear it from you.”

All is quiet for a moment and briefly, tears start slipping out of his eyes. It’s over, this was when Richard was going to leave.

He's more than a little surprised when Richard rests his head on Brad’s shoulder. It’s a little awkward because of how short Brad was compared to Richard.

“I’m not leaving.” A fresh round of tears.

“Don’t lie to me! God, please don’t lie to me! Everybody always leaves! Always and I’m always going to be alone!”

“Oh, Brad,” Richard says sorrowfully. Richard bites his lip again and sobs harder.

“Why don’t you understand that? You need to leave me alone. People are constantly dropping dead around me! Or their leaving! It’s been a revolving door of people and eventually, you're going to die. Going to die because of me because everybody who has been in contact with me has died!”

“Your right Brad. Eventually, I am going to die but it won’t be because of you.”

“How can you be sure of that?”

“How can you be sure your cursed?” Brad closed his eyes tightly. How could he be sure he was cursed. Not everybody died around him but enough people had. Though he knows that answer isn’t going to fly with Richard. He shrugs his shoulders slightly.

Richard gentle eases him up to his feet. He leads Brad back. Brad stumbles after like a newborn calf. Eventually, they reach the bed and Richard keeps one arm around d Brad and uses the other to grab the blanket. The blanket brushes against his bare legs and Brad shutters at the feeling. It was an odd sort of comfort.

His body slowly warming from the blanket. Richard runs a hand through Brad’s hair.

“Not going to leave. You're okay. You're okay.”

Brad’s not quite sure if he is but the warmth of the body and blanket soothes him. The hand through his hair is what does him in. His eyes flutter closed.

Richard was going to leave eventually but right now?

Right now Brad was going to be selfish. It would hurt in the long run when Richard did leave but for now? Now he doesn’t care.

**Author's Note:**

> Again no beta and this was a vent fic. It’s been rough. I’ll get to requests soon (maybe IDK) I just need to get through this week or season. 
> 
> Yell at me on Tumblr;  
Asheryapal
> 
> (Requests are closed I’m sorry 😞)


End file.
